N commented tonight that T & I seem to, "watch a lot of FBI/police shows". My knee-jerk reaction to this was that I don't really and that I'm a moderate TV viewer with discriminating and eclectic tastes.
This is not exactly true.
Even though this is a blog and inherantly the place to list in excruciating detail all the stuff I watch, I realize that I have "readers" and that might not be the best use of their time. I'll just sum it up and say that if Jerry Bruckhimer and Dick Wolf ever go out of business, I'll have enough time to complete that analysis of everything that Q ever said to Picard ... or was it everything that Q said to M .... or 7 (no leading zeros)?
I'm having one of those convergent influence days. Between N asking me about my TV viewing, T pointing out just how long the new curtain rod for the family room had been hiding behing the door, C telling me he is going to skip legos tomorrow so he can read the Bible like they talked about in Children's Church, Mr.s P-dougeee showing an endearing video about a bible study, and Phil mentioning the emminent 90-day read through the Bible thing; I thinking about a devotion.
Oh yeah; did I mention that I was one of the guys in Sunday school that was talking about the muslim view of the Koran as being equivelant with the virgin birth? It's sad to realize that if I was a muslim, I'd be a very bad one. Not in doctrine but in the simple acts of faith and devotion that they do for a false god. And every one of them is something I'm called to do in my own relationship with the True Way.
The 5 Pillars of Islam are The Profession Of Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Charity, and Pilgrimage. I'd rate myself as follows on a scale of 1-5 ... 1 being the more devout end of the spectrum:
Profession Of Faith (2) I do ok here, but sometimes I wonder how much of it is cultural. I've never been a Jesus Fish kind of Christian; but I don't let my faith be part of what immediatley defines me to new people I meet. I understand how many in the "Hi - I'm a Born Again Christian, Are You?" camp have alienated some, but can I honestly say that's a good enough excuse? I'm pretty sure that if I had an "are you a Christian?" moment like the apochraphyl comlumbine This Was Her Time story, I'd pass the test. But should I really have to have a gun to my head to declare my faith?
Prayer (3) Not counting meals and the automobile mishaps, I have a reactive prayer life. What I mean by this is that I wait for a reason to pray .. or some other external prompting before I seek God. I'm probably closer to a "2" right now since I'm interviewing with another company and considering a job change - but I don't have any kind of DVR-like schedule that says at X o'clock I'm going to spend time with my God.
Fasting (4) As evidenced by the stuff that does fill my time (not just the momentary self-rant on my TV viewing) , I don't seem to deny myself very often. This relates to the pilgrimage topic in that because I don't get the denying part done, I've not been very successfull in taking up many crosses.
Charity (5) I'm probably one of the most selfish people I know. The people at work think I give to my Church, so that's why I don't do much for the fundraisers. I wonder if the people at church think the opposite. T pointed out when I was commenting on how pathetic our end of year giving report from the church was that we are much more likely to give to individuals that need help (and un-traceable cash in the offering bag) but I know I should be doing more. Not to meet some sort of quota - or to earn some sort of blessing allowance - just because it's one way I can express that I trust God and that he has belessed me more richly than I deserve.
Pilgrimage (?) I'm still up in the air on this one. I interpret it as selfless service. What is grey for me is that I'm not sure how much of the "ministry" I do is compelled by calling and how much is just a way to do what I enjoy and feel good about it so I can justify my selfishness.
Anyway, I'm sorry for such a long-winded blog. I'm sure I needed to write it more than say it to others. In fact it feels very much like the Post-Secret blog where people send postcards with their deepest secrets to some guy with a web site and a book to write. This is not the posting of a deviant, but I will consider my tail to have been kicked. Hope I feel the pain in my rump for a while and that it makes a difference.
7 comments:
Actually it was very insightful. I hate it when my kids call me down on something...and its like "o-uch".
So now that you shared with me the show "Without a Trace"....you have now shared with me the "truth"...LOL!
I don't have cable or DVR, but my computer and online chatting seems to "eat" my time...so I don't sit down at my computer now until AFTER the boys have gone to bed. Therefore, not taking from their "spending snuggle time" with me.
Wow, I wonder if it weren't for the blogging vow if this would have come out of dash for quiet a while if ever. He tends to be pretty good at internalizing.
I can also say that I think Dash and I have both been feeling prodded in the "ways to improve" area lately. In fact, I saw our picture on the "leaders of the church" poster the stars did and was shocked. Then I asked n about it tonight. "So who besides you worked on that poster?!" She said, "They did that a week I was gone. But dad leads rangers and you guys are leaders in the church."
I have to admit that I hadn't given much thought to that recently. I mean, I love our church and I love our involement, even when most of what "we" do is actually what dash does. But still, it was a shock and a humble moment to realize that girls in the stars class see us as some of the contributing leaders in the church. I know that I want to follow God's will and most of my prayer time lately has been on that and making sure that I am doing what God desires of me, but as dash pointed out, he's also been looking for work and that's been a lot of my prayer time too. Still that's it what God wants for him and in God's will, but I have to admit that that was only part of my focus.
Today was a good reminder to stay focused and on track and while the sermon was about not doing things spiritually for show, it seems to have hit home with all my family because N, dash, cman and myself have all been convicted on reading the Bible more and not at all for show, but just as aknowledgement...I am glad that we were all in Church again together today. I felt at home and I really appreciated the sermon.
Kind of reminds me that I can't justify things by telling myself, "I'm a good person." I'm not so hot on most of those pillars.
Did you enjoy that endearing video for the woman's bible study too? It brought a tear to my eye and has given me thoughts about going in drag. The bearded lady.
Nice post by the way!
silly silly forrest....
Don't you remember, we must always, "keep 'em seperated". males and females can only learn deep spiritual truths when retreating far away from their gender counterparts.
This always the case - except for those teenage years , when hormones and percieved class strife mandate that they can learn spiritual truths only in semi-lit worship services and similarly lit coffee shops.
I think Sunday's sermon convicted us all in one way or another.
The video about the women's bible study really didn't inform me much. Something about the "touch of God."
So... I guess we aren't extending the daily posts beyond the seven days? It's been a fun time while it lasted.
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